Ore-roasting furnace.



No. 832,248. PATDNTBD 00T. 2, 1906.

D T. EDWARDS.

ORE ROASTING PURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED 13110.19. 1903 Z SHEETS-SHEET l.

MV l? AV //Iv MVV' A? PATENTED OCT. 2, 1906.

T. EDWARDS. 012B ROASTING PURNACE;

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 19. 1903.

UNITED sTArns PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS EDWARDS, OF BALLARAT, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

oRE-RoAsTING FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application Bled December 19, 1903. Serial No. 185,883.

ratented'oct. 2, 190.6.

This invention relates to roasting-furnaces whereby copper ore, pyrites,matte, tin ore, antimony ore, quartz, and varlous othersullid ores andother compounds may be efficiently and economically roasted, and, ifde-l sired, chloridized.

to reverberatory furnaces, so that coarse or finely-divided ores may besuitably roasted by mechanical rabbling.

'lhe furnace may be made of brick, stone, or iron, lined with brick orother suitable matcrial, and can be made of anysuitable length or width.

In a long reverberatory furnace a single line of rotary rabblesrestricts the width of the hearth or desired width of the furnace, butyet necessitates a long foot to the rabble.

The great circle described by the oint or eX- treme end of the foot 0fthe rab le necessitatcs the application of great force to push therabble through the oreon the hearth from its central spindle, whichcauses more or less breakages of the rabbles and consequentloss of time.At present the rabbles used are of great weight and unwieldly to removefromV and to replace in the furnace and are costly in construction. Inmy present invention I do away with the obj ectlonable feature of thelong rabble-foot by replacing theI single line of rabbles with two ormore parallel lines of light and short-foot rabbles, which are easier tohandle and cheap in construction, possessing great durability andimmunity from breakages.

The invention consists in the features and combination and arrangementof arts hereplan view wi th part of the furnace-Wal brokenv away. Fig. 3is a cross-sectional view through the furnace with parts in elevation.FfigsA, 4a, and 4P show detail views of one of Figs. 5, 6, and 7 aredetail Fi .2isaviews of the box through which the rabblearms are placedin or removed from the furnace, Fig. 7 beinga section on line 7 7 ofFig. 5.

In a long reverberatory roasting-furnace of Vvarious inside widths Iprovide, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, two lines or more of a series oflateral oblong holes 1 through the arch or roof of the furnace, intoeach of which holes I insert an iron frame 1, Figs. 5, 6, and 7, andafter which the openin is closed by clay or other suitable materia,which prevents air` passing into the furnace when at work, and

. through which frames are inserted the feet 2 My improvements are madein and relateof the two separate lines or series of rabbles and fromwhich they may be removed and replaced when warm.

The rabbles may be made of iron or any suitable material, the spindles 8of which will protrude above the arch 4. On each spindle of the rabbleswill be fitted a collar 5 and a cog-wheel 6. I also provide framework 7,securely xed above the arch of the furnace, which may be made of iron orother suitable material. To this frame are fitted the bearings 8, intowhich the spindles of the rabbles are placed, and thus the two series ofrabbles with their cog-wheels are held in proper position to be rotated.On the top of this framework 7 I place two or more lines of shafting 9,fitted with cog-wheels 11, which shafting rests on bearings 10, securedtothe framework 7. The pinions 1 1 on the shaft are now geared intotheir respective crown-wheels 6, on the various rabble-spindles. Theseshafts are connected by gearing 12 26 to make the shafts run at auniform speed, so that the feet of one series of rabbles cuts the circleor path of the other series, while each series cuts its own circles orpaths of the rabbles, thus preventing the various rabbles from cominginto contact or fouling each other.

I provide air-holes 13 along each side of the furnace, a little ,abovethe hearthH, through which air may be admitted in proper quantities tooXidize the roasting ore. The circles and arrows, Fi 2, show the variouspaths of travel. This ure also shows the air-holes 13 along the sidesand the roasted-ore-discharge hole 17, the fire-bridge 18, and iire- Iloof, as at b, within the foot, both parts a b being preferably integralwith said footi The adjoining parts of the stem or spindle of therabbles are cooled by a'constant stream of Water flowing througlirthesame, the waterV being conducted to the rabbles by the pipe 27, Whilethe water is discharged from them Viinto the annular pan 22 andi iscarriedi away "by the pipe 28. 'Ilhusthe passage for the ,ore for thesmelting-urnaces.

water. is ormed'in the solid! iron through the stem and foot of the`rabble, doing away with the introduction of a pipe into the foot ofthe` rabble, which is always unsatisfactory. The water is introducedithrough the top of1 the spindle andL passes down through the stema andreturns by way of the-passage b through the foot and escapes through theoutlet-pipe `in the stem of the rabble just underthe ange into 'theannular waste-water pan. There arebut twol'ongitudinalflines orseries ofrabbles shown `in the drawings as an example;

but this does not limit the application of this principle of applyingany number of lines .or series oi rabbles to` long reyerberatoryfurnaces, as the width of the furnace must be accommodated with thenecessary longitudinal lines or series of rabbles.-

The-rabbles are arnanged so that the middie of-'the-furnace-is stirredtwice, each line-ef` rabbles sweeping the ore in the middle to'- wardthe fire end, While the sides of the turnace are only stirredf. once, sothat the oreis drawn from the feed end" Without having an inclinedhearth; but this can also bearranged tewerk equally well on the inclinedhearth. 29 is a recess formed in the hearth of the furnace close to thefire-bridge, into which the rabble discharges the roasted ore fromthehearth. This is used when roasting fine The object of the recess is tostore up suiiicient ore while bei kept very hot to be drawn off atintervals into a. mechanicall press or iron pots and ressed thereinWhile hot. This when cooled ecomesa concrete mass. Thus, little or no'ne ore canI be blown7 into the l'ues ot the smelting-furnaces as dust.

In smelting operations ore containing more than; five percent. of sulfurmust bve roasted, and to doy this eX editiously and well the oremust becrushe fine, so .that it will pass through a sieve the mesh of whichvaries from four holes to sixteen holes totheinch. This fine roasted oreifput into the cupola smelting-urnace would be blown, by

' means et the necessarily strong blast of air,

into the flues, and little or none of' the ore 'would-- beY smelted. :Toobviatethis diiculty, it has been found necessary to leave from-two percent. to three per cent. of sulhearth, and two` lines otrabblesextending.'

longitudinally of the furnace andIv rotating fur in theoreand while itis very hot todraw the ore from the furnace into iron potsor pressedrescasa molds, into which the hot ore is pressed or hammered7 so thatwith the small amount of sulfur contained in: the ore it becomes coagulated'. Hence, being in lumps, it resists the action, of theair-blastand is not blown out of the smelter. i

The recess is', as shown, close to the bridge 'or hottest place of thefurnace, in which the orev is discharged; from the hearth, which remainsin the heat until there is suiicientore to ill an iron ot or mold, whenit is drawn by manual l'a or or mechanical force from 'the furnace intothe molds, andthe desired object iis-obtained?. Vnot be assured: withouttherecess, as the ore This saie object could 'would be drawn outlittle-by little, When-'the ore would become too coldibeforeit could beThe recess is used only when-,roasting for smelters, and. the ore` willfbe drawn out through the side ofi the fumace-at 29a.

I would point out that the twol or more separatelines or series of;rabbl'es may be rotated by other means than by alongitudinal 'line-shaftto each line or seriesof rabbles.

It will benoticed that the rows of elongated' openings are arranged outbeyond the lplane of the line-shaalts,v andi that the discharge-pipes28. occupy positions between 'the lines of rabble-stems. Ilt Willi beunderstood that the arrangement offthevelongated openings to extendtransverselyy 0fthefur nace-is of advantage in that the strength of thearch is not lessened, aswould' be-the case wereltheseopenings.'extendedilongitudinally of the-furnace.

` l claiml as my inventionm 1'. A water-cooled stirring-shaft providedwith a partition dividing the shaft into two compartments, said'partition forming the end of one compartment, a Stirner-arm, and meansconnected to` the sturen-:arm for providing circulation through the armand shaft.

2; A rvmteo-cooledstirringeshaft provided withax partition di vidingthel shaftinto two parts, one part being closed. on the top andprovided* with a pipefor lthepassageofwa,- ter.

3f. A water-cooledstirringshat diyided'by a lmrtition-7 astirrerearmattached to said shaft, a partition ini the st'imicnarm, anopen ing at .the end of said-latter partition, means for admittinlwaterinto.onepart of theshaft and meansr permitting the outletof thewaterromthe other part ot the shaft.

4. An ore-roasting furnace of elongated IOO IIO

formocm aheartltandi a plurality of themv toward theirey endi of= thefurnace, substantially as described.

5. ore-roasting furnace comprising a over the hearth, the circular pathsof the rabbles intersecting each other laterally of the furnace,lsubstantially as described.

6. An ore-roasting furnace comprising an elongated hearth and aplurality of lines ofl rabbles rotating over the said hearth, the pathsof movement of said rabbles intersecting each other both longitudinallyand laterally of the hearth, substantially as described.

7. An ore-roasting furnace comprising an elongated hearth and aplurality of lilies of rabbles rotating over the said hearth, the pathsof movement of said rabbles intersecting each other both longitudinallyand laterally of the hearth, two lines of shafting extendinglongitudinally of the furnace, gearing between the said shafting wherebythey move in unison and gearing from the said lineshafts to the rabbles,substantially as described.

8. In combination in an ore-roastin furnace, an elongated hearth, aplurality o lines of rabbles rotating over the hearth, and

, elongated openings extending from the rabble-stems laterally towardthe edge of the furnace-arch through which the rabble-feet may beintroduced or removed.

9. In combination in an ore-roasting furnace, an elongated hearth, aplurality of lines of rabbles rotating over the hearth, and having theirstems extending up through the arch of the furnace, a plurality ofline-shafts extending longitudinally of the furnace above thearch,gearing between said lineshafts and the upwardly-extending stems,Water-pans surrounding the stems, dischargepipes for the water extendinglongitudinally over the arch between the rabble-stems and openings forthe placing or removing of the rabbles, said openings being located outbeyond the longitudinal plane of the line-shaftsI and extending fromthe, rabble-stems toward the side edges of the furnace, substantially asdescribed.

10, In combination in an ore-roasting furnace rabbles and means fordriving the same, said furnace having elongated openings in its archwith their long dimension extending laterally of the furnace for theintroduction of the rabble, substantially as described.

I11. A Water-cooled stirring-shaft having a stirrer-arm, a partitionextending longitudinally of the said shaft, a partition extend inglongitudinally of the said arm, said arm and shaft being integral andthe partitionsl being integral with each other and with the shaft andarm respectively, the said integral partition forming one end of onecompartment in the shaft, the inlet and outlet for the water being atthe upper part of the shaft.

12. A water-cooled stirring-shaft having a stirring-arm and a partitionextending from side to side and along said shaft and arm, said e shafthaving the inlet and outlet for the water at the upper portion thereof,whereby a circulation is secured down one side of the ishaft, along oneside of the arm, returning along the other side of the arm and up theother side of the shaft,

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

v-THOMAS EDWARDS.

Witnesses:

EDWARD W. KENT, RALPH R. WRIGHT.

